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Mercury Flyby 1
Astro0
post Jan 20 2008, 10:39 PM
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Here's an update on the images released so far overlaid on the newly imaged face of Mercury.
I had to fudge a bit on the central area due to the angle of the original image, but you get the idea.
Attached Image


Astro0

PS: I especially like the 50km scale bar that now appears on the image on the lower left.
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Phil Stooke
post Jan 21 2008, 02:31 PM
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Curiouser and curiouser...

Stu, in post 346 (above) noted a crater with a rimless pit in it. It was also shown in my reprojection of that same image. Then the science team released an image showing another one, "telephone-shaped". And in the lower right corner of that same release was yet another rimless pit, which they didn't mention.

Now we have a new image of the south pole. Look in its upper right corner and you will find another of these features. (I'm away from my Photoshop and can't illustrate it).

So rimless pits in crater interiors may be common on Mercury. Marsisimportant was discussing volcanic features - I disagreed about his example, but I could very well believe that these odd features are volcanic in origin.

Phil


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jamescanvin
post Jan 21 2008, 03:56 PM
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Another one trickles out...

Looking Toward the South Pole of Mercury


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Juramike
post Jan 21 2008, 04:04 PM
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Here is a graphic showing the feature that Phil was referring to:

Attached Image


(Released image found here: http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/scienc...mp;image_id=131)

I'm going to retract my retraction. The depressed area in the post discussed far above (Post 342, this thread) sits in the center of a larger, older crater. Could be this is an older version of a rimless pit that was covered up? (Or covered then slumped?). Here is a graphic showing my putative collapsed area inside the larger, older crater:

Attached Image


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Bill Harris
post Jan 21 2008, 05:03 PM
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And what we may be seeing might be partially tectonic and erosional phenomena. Remember, the maximum surface temperature is about halfway to the melting point of the rock (equivalent to our lithosphere some 30 miles deep), with an overall max-min temperature range of some 1100 degrees and the surface is also blasted with strong solar wind, which can disrupt the crystal structure of minerals.

Another alien world...

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jaywee
post Jan 21 2008, 05:25 PM
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QUOTE (jamescanvin @ Jan 21 2008, 04:56 PM) *
Another one trickles out...

Looking Toward the South Pole of Mercury


Any idea what might be the very bright feature in the SW corner?
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jamescanvin
post Jan 21 2008, 05:40 PM
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QUOTE (jaywee @ Jan 21 2008, 05:25 PM) *
Any idea what might be the very bright feature in the SW corner?


I wondered how long it would be before someone mentioned that. rolleyes.gif

I guess it's one of the famous "Wrinkle Ridges" heading over the terminator


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SigurRosFan
post Jan 21 2008, 06:31 PM
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Interesting story ...

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Messenger team member Jeffrey Gillis-Davis of the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology has drawn attention to the sharp cliffs and escarpments visible on the close-up images.

These features indicate that the whole planet shrank as it cooled, he told New Scientist.
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- Has Messenger revealed lava flows on Mercury?


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tedstryk
post Jan 21 2008, 08:04 PM
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Attached Image


It caught me off guard to see the albedo features in Messenger images. It is probably from being used to the old Mariner mosaics. Even in this distant south polar shot, the planet looks remarkably similar to the Messenger outbound global view.


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As old as Voyage...
post Jan 21 2008, 08:27 PM
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Interesting interview with Scott Murchie on MESSENGER's first Mercury flyby:

http://www.physorg.com/news120143527.html


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nprev
post Jan 22 2008, 12:23 AM
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QUOTE (SigurRosFan @ Jan 21 2008, 10:31 AM) *
These features indicate that the whole planet shrank as it cooled, he told New Scientist.


Not to denigrate the story, but the 'shrinkage' hypothesis has been around since Mariner 10 following discovery of the scarps. See Murray & Burgess, Flight to Mercury (1977, Columbia University Press). This book is an excellent context primer for Messenger, if you can find it.


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tedstryk
post Jan 22 2008, 12:46 AM
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I don't think Murchie ever claims that Messenger discovered the scarps. He just explains them and talks about seeing them in the Messenger data and points to the fact that Messenger will allow us to test and refine our ideas about them using Messenger data.


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gcecil
post Jan 22 2008, 01:21 AM
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I've just returned from a great visit to the geology "back room" at APL in Laurel. Can't comment on the many wonderful conversations and plenty of lively discussion at the 2pm science update conference that I presented briefly at. But I will say that the NAC mosaic #2 of the N hemisphere will absolutely blow your socks off when it is revealed on the 30th! It is nowhere near fully resolved on the 4x4 ft working image posted in front of the toiling geologists. Wait until it is colorized from the WAC mosaic and printed at 3x the area/resolution. Astonishing, HUGE crater ejecta blankets on non-Mariner imaged features that I saw as bright splotches barely resolved from the ground, rupes, overlapping lava flows, etc. You'll see for yourself in less than 10 days. There was much discussion of fascinating features on the approach (Mariner 10) side, which reveal "a completely different planet" in the words of one geologist who presented. Plenty of surprises with Caloris. All instruments got data, teams continue working through calibrations and improved trajectory analysis to pin down viewing geometry for multicolor registration. A new world revealed in so many facets. An astonishing achievement by Prof. Solomon and his great team.
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nprev
post Jan 22 2008, 01:49 AM
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QUOTE (gcecil @ Jan 21 2008, 05:21 PM) *
. Wait until it is colorized from the WAC mosaic and printed at 3x the area/resolution. Astonishing, HUGE crater ejecta blankets on non-Mariner imaged features that I saw as bright splotches barely resolved from the ground, rupes, overlapping lava flows, etc. You'll see for yourself in less than 10 days. There was much discussion of fascinating features on the approach (Mariner 10) side, which reveal "a completely different planet" in the words of one geologist who presented. Plenty of surprises with Caloris. All instruments got data, teams continue working through calibrations and improved trajectory analysis to pin down viewing geometry for multicolor registration. A new world revealed in so many facets.


To say that I'm salivating would be an understatement; thank you, gcecil!!!!!

I think that we have a genuine heuristic for planetary exploration now: for each improvement in resolution and/or instrumentation, we will find more features that will overturn, rather then confirm, our expectations, and raise more questions then we originally thought we would have to answer. (A chaotic paradigm to be sure, but apparently true for reality.)

What a time to be alive. smile.gif


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tedstryk
post Jan 22 2008, 05:01 AM
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While we are waiting, here is my incoming mosaic. I mixed minus uv, blue and clear, and blue and uv to make a very approximate OGV combination.

Attached Image


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